Soda vs Beer on cheat days?

I'm in the middle of a clean bulk and I haven't had anything to drink besides natural fruit juice, water, or protein shakes for the last month. My scheduled cheat day is coming up, and I was wondering which would be better: soda or beer?

Common sense would lead me to think beer as long as I compensate for the dehydration with a little extra water intake, but are the empty calories just as bad as a soda?

Atleast a few beers will make you feel good, soda just makes me sick. I would say the two biggest factors would be the HFC's in the soda and the effect on estrogen from beer. Also, if I drink alcohol I like to try to avoid calorically dense meals. Weight them out for yourself. I love a few good craft brews so I'd choose that. No science behind it, just personal preference.

beer definately. it atleast has a few health benifits and alcohol calories arent converted to bodyfat they are converted to acitate in the liver and burned with priority above all other nutrients though so just limit your carbs and fats after drinking. plus no hfcs like the sodas going to have.

I remember Franco Columbu's "nutrition for bodybuilders" book he promoted having 1 beer or glass of wine per night. Justification was it helped his muscles relax after all the working out and he was ready to go the next day.

So if 1 beer is good for you, then adding in a couple more couldn't be too bad

I've mainly been sticking to organic grape (post-workout) and grapefruit (breakfast) both of which have their place in my diet plan. I don't know if their being organic makes a huge difference, but it's definitely better than the sugar'd up Welch's the rest of my family drinks. My BF% has stayed under 8-9%, so I'm not going to be changing anything, but would you recommend something different for my next bulk?

Beer gets such a freaking bad rap. Yes...everyone knows it's effects on protein synthesis, estrogen, decreasing testosterone, dehydration, etc....but that's when you OVER DO IT. Going out once a week and having a few beers won't hurt or kill you. I'd actually advise it unless your a competitive body builder. Going out and having a guys night or go out and bird dogging some women while drinking a few allows you to relax, hit the reset button a bit and unwind. Which, IMO (which has no scientific backing whatsoever), is GOOD for overall health. So...once a week...don't be afraid to drop a six pack.

I really find it hard to believe all the people on these forums who talk about "why drink at all", "it will hinder your gains", etc. actually practice what they preach. I LOVE beer, like seriously LOVE it. You just have to find a balance of being able to enjoy ALL the things you like in your life. Not having a few beers b/c it will "destroy your gains", or make you fat is absolutely ridiculous.

Have some fun on that cheat day bro...it'll do ya good! As for the short answer to your question LOL....CHOOSE BEER!

I agree with the above. They claim that drinking lowers testosterone - more specifically it could drop enough in a day to kill your week's workouts. While this may be true it's only speaking of BINGE drinking which is defined as 5 or more drinks (in men, women is 4) within a 2 hour period. To be more quantitative - bringing the BAC above 0.08 or 80 g/dL.

So drink up! Enjoy! But be smart about it! Besides your loading up on carbs, itll just soak up.

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.
Franz Kafka